ABSTRACT
Fact file ● Total number of Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) given to 10-17-years-olds during
1999-2007 – 6,000
● Total number of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABCs) made 2003-07 – 30,000
● Average number of Parenting Orders issued each year – 1,500
● Average number of custodial sentences given to 10-17-year-olds each year – 3,500
● Around 60% of 10-17-year-olds have breached their (ASBOs)
As is demonstrable from the figures in the Fact File above, a considerable number of children and young people are involved in the youth justice system each year. Social workers in Youth Offending Teams are obviously the most likely to be working directly with young offenders. However, it would be a mistake to imagine that young offenders, children at risk of significant harm and children in need fall neatly into separate categories necessitating the inputs of different agencies. As some of the cases in this chapter demonstrate, often a young offender is also a child in need or a child about whom there are safeguarding concerns. So a social worker acting under an Education Supervision Order, or the named worker for a disabled child or a child at risk of significant harm may simultaneously be working with a young offender.
